The New Economics

Sound rewrote the business of film as fast as it rewrote the art. Studios that could afford the conversion pulled ahead, and those that hesitated fell behind. Talent now had to clear a new bar: a marketable voice, not just a photogenic face.

The shift also locked in a competitive edge for Hollywood. Because English-language films reached the widest paying audience without translation, American studios could fund bigger productions and out-spend rivals abroad — an advantage that compounded for decades.